Pritzker Confirmed as Commerce Sec. Despite Sub-Prime Lending History

25 Jun 2013

After sailing through her confirmation hearing, Penny Pritzker was confirmed on Tuesday by the U.S. Senate as the next Secretary of Commerce. Despite strong opposition from both liberals and conservatives, the Senate voted 97 to 1 to confirm Pritzker.

Self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was the only senator to hold to true to his principles and vote against Pritzker.

Conservative and liberal media outlets highlighted Pritzker’s crony business history; however, Republicans and Democrats alike failed to challenge President Obama’s troubling nomination during her hearing in front of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Not only did Pritzker’s family bank, Superior Bank of Illinois, fail after running a sub-prime lending operation that left veterans and senior citizens out millions of dollars from their retirement accounts under her leadership, Pritzker’s family still owes the federal government more than $296 million dollars.

Days before her nomination hearing, Bloomberg reported Pritzker also “understated a portion of her income by at least $80 million in a disclosure form required for her nomination to be U.S. Commerce secretary and has amended the document.”